The Dallas Cowboys are now 10-4 after the Buffalo Bills’ blowout win, 31-10.
The Cowboys clinched a playoff berth ahead of the game, but is history repeating itself with this loss?
Dallas Cowboys vs. Buffalo Bills Highlights
Penalties Were the Cowboys’ Downfall
All eyes were on the weather during the game, as wind and rain were in the forecast. But that didn’t have an impact on the game at all.
What did impact the game was the Cowboys creating self-inflicted wounds once again.
The Cowboys found themselves in a three-score deficit by halftime, all leading back to the costly penalties.
The Cowboys trailed the Bills 21-3, the largest halftime deficit they have faced all season.
This all boiled down to very costly penalties that all led to the Bills scoring touchdowns.
The roughing of the passer penalty by DeMarcus Lawrence, the roughing of the kicker penalty by Sam Williams, and the personal foul penalty by Jayron Kearse all led to the Bills’ capitalizing and scoring touchdowns.
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Going into the game, the Cowboys led the NFL in penalties with 97 for 824 yards.
The Cowboys did not play a disciplined game, which is concerning considering this is a recurring issue since the team was fourth in the NFL for the most penalties going back to last season.
The Road Game Struggles Continue
The Cowboys have struggled to win on the road this season, with all four losses being during away games.
A recurring theme in these games was the need for run defense, undisciplined mistakes, and the offense struggling to find its groove.
This was a very uncharacteristic game by the Cowboys, but it doesn’t make it less concerning.
During the game, the Cowboys’ defense allowed 266 total rushing yards from the Bills’ offense, 179 of which came from RB James Cook.
The Cowboys knew the run defense would be a challenge in this game because of how efficient Cook has been the last few weeks and because they were without Johnathan Hankins.
But, considering Hankins will be out for the foreseeable future, the run defense is a concern once again.
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As for the Cowboys’ offense, the unit had 89 total rushing yards and 139 total receiving yards. This was the lowest amount of receiving yards for the Cowboys this season.
This was a product of the offense not being able to establish the run and from the constant pressure the Bills’ defensive line was putting on Dak Prescott.
The only touchdown of the game for the Cowboys came from CeeDee Lamb in the fourth quarter, but it was already too late to revive the chances for the team to win the game.
The time of possession shows that the offense was shut out and didn’t have the ball, as the Cowboys only had the ball for 24 minutes and 55 seconds and the Bills had the ball for 35 minutes and five seconds.
The lack of fight in the game was evident, but rest will be needed as they prepare for the Miami Dolphins next week.
Don’t be fooled by today’s performance. This is still a talented team that clinched a playoff berth before the game even started.
But, now the contention for the NFC East and top seed for the NFC are pretty much out of the question because of this loss.
Injury Concerns
Going forward, the biggest concern for the Cowboys will be the game’s impact on the team’s health.
Going into this game, the team was relatively healthy, only missing Hankins and Malik Hooker, who is dealing with an ankle injury.
But now, all eyes will be on Zack Martin, who was ruled out of the game with a quad injury.
This would be a massive loss for the Cowboys, especially considering how long the offensive line took to build continuity with its starting line this season.
Micah Parsons, Donovan Wilson, and Damone Clark also dealt with injuries during the game.
Seeing the impact of this game going forward and how the Cowboys can bounce back from the loss will be vital for the rest of the season.
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